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B. BECKER.

APPARATUS FOR TREATING GOLD AND sILVER 0113 s. No. 588,740. Patented Aug. 24, 1897.

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B.BEOKER. APPARATUS FOR TREATING GOLD AND SILVER ORES;

No. 588,740. Patented Aug. 24, 1897.

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B. BECKER. APPARATUS FOR TREATING GOLD AND SILVER ORES.

No. 588,740. v Patented Aug. 24,1897.

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'BEDA BECKER, OF EUPEN, GERMANY.

APPARATUS FOR TREATINGGOLD AND SILVER ORES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 588,740, dated August 24, 1897.

Application filed February 5, 1897. $eria1 No. 622,170. (Nomodeld ject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Eupen, Germ any, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the'Treatment of Gold and Silver Ores, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the treatment of gold and silver ores for the extraction of the precious metal therefrom. i

The methods hitherto chiefly employed for the extraction of gold from its ores are what are known as the amalgamation process and the cyanid of potassium process.

My invention consists, mainly, in improved apparatus for combining these two processes in such a manner that the gold, which is not free enough to be converted into an amalgam, will be dissolved by the cyanid of potassium, and sometimes as an additional step in the process I simultaneously treat the cyanid solution electrolytically, so that while 011 the one hand it is dissolving the gold on the other hand the gold which it contains is t d being deposi e In treating gold ore according to my in vention I first of all crush it to the desired extent and then introduce it into a vat or tank that at no time will the solution have a con-J sistency which will-interfere with its free circulation by the pump. In practice the said vat is of a conical shape and the circulatingpump has its suction-pipe connectedwith the top of the vat, while the discharge side is in connection with the bottom of the same, so that the circulation is in an upward direction, thereby preventing the sludge or mud from depositing in the bottom of the vat. It will be obvious that by thus keeping the mass in circulation a very rapid action of the cyanid upon the gold will take place, while at the same time the amount of power requisite for maintaining the circulation is much smaller than is necessary when the mass is kept in motion by an agitator such as is now frequently employed.

The plates for amalgamating the free gold are arranged around the sides and bottom of the vat and adapted to be removed from time to time in a well-known manner.

I arrange at the bottom of the conical vat a nozzle with spiral apertures, through which the solution is forced by the pump in order to give a rotary motion to the same and thus impart a slight centrifugal action to the particles held in suspension, which centrifugal action tends to bring the said particles into contact with the sides of the vat and at the same time leaves the solution at the center relatively clear in order to prevent too much of the solid matter from being passed through the pump, the solid matter as it moves to the sides of the vessel gradually falling down the inclined sides until it again meets the upward current produced by the pump.

Below the lower aperture of the vat I arrange a receiver into which theinsufficientlycrushed pieces of ore, the gold in which can neither be amalgamated nor dissolved by the cyanid, can drop in order that they may be collected and re-treated, and I also provide a suitable outlet for withdrawing the solution or pulp from ,the vat when required. The said receiver also serves to retain any mercury whichmay drop from the amalgamatingis connectedwith the amalgamating vat, o-

which is then cut off from direct communication with the suction side of the pump, the latter being connected to the bottom of the electrolytic vat, so that the pump causes the solution to circulate from the amalgamatingvat into the electrolytic vat, and thence through the pump back into the amalgamating-vat. As thesolution flows down between the anodes and cathodes the deposit takes place in the usual manner.

In order to evenly distribute the liquid in the electrolytic vat, so that a practically uniform deposit takes place over allthe cathodes, I provide that the liquid in flowing from the amalgamating-vat to the electrolytic vat shall pass through a distributer, which rotates in the top of the electrolytic vat.

To enable my invention to be fully understood, I will describe the same by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the amalgamating-vat, showing the circulating-pump; and Fig. 2 is a plan view, drawn to a larger scale, of the nozzle for giving the rotary n10- tion to the solution. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation showing the arrangement of the electrolytic vat in conjunction with the amalgamating-vat. Fig. lis a section on the line 4 at, Fig. 3, illustrating the arrangement of some of the electrodes in the electrolytic vat. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, illustrating a modified arrangement of the electrodes.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar or corresponding parts in the several figures.

a is the amalgamating-vat, which is preferably circular in horizontal section and the bottom of which is arranged at such an angle that the materials in suspension in the solution will not tend to lodge upon the same, but will gravitate toward the bottom of the cone.

The vertical sides of the vat may be of any desired height, according to the quantity of material which it is intended to treat at any given time. Z) Z) are amalgan'lating plates which are arranged over the sides and bottom of the said vat, the said plates being made in sections, so as to permit of their being readily removed and replaced.

0 is the circulating-pump. dis the suctionpipe for the said pump, and e is the deliverypipe, the suction-pipe extending to the center of the vessel for the purpose before stated namely, to draw liquid which is as free as possible of suspended matter-and the delivery-pipe being connected to the apex or point of the conical vat a.

f is the spiral nozzle, which is shown drawn to an enlarged scale in Fig. 2, the said spiral nozzle serving to give a rotary motion to the mass under treatment to impart to the solid matter a centrifugal motion to bring all the particles into contact with the amalgamatingplates, which rotary motion has the effect also of preventing the settling of the mass upon the plates, so that the latter always present a clean surface to the gold.

g is the discharge-pipe, provided with a suitable valve 7L, and t' is the receiver for the insufficiently-crushed ore, in the pipe connecting which receiverwith the amalgamating vessel is arranged a valve 3' for cutting off communication between the said amalgamating vessel and the receiver when it is desired to remove the contents of the latter for further treatment.

In using this apparatus the vat is filled with cyanid-of-potassium solution to a point above the level of the aperture of the suction-pipe (Z. Before the introduction of the material commences the pump is set in motion and the motion is at no time discontinued, in order that the crushed ore introduced for treatment shall not be allowed to settle in the apparatus, but be kept in a state of constant circulation. As the circulation takes place any particles of free gold contained in the mass will, owing to their great specific gravity and to the rotary motion imparted'to the liquid, be deposited upon the amalgamated plates to form an amalgam,while at the same time the fine gold and the particles of gold which are combined with the gangue will be wholly or partially dissolved. After a rapid circulation has been kept up for some considerable time, in order to give the free particles of coarse gold an opportunity of becoming amalgamated, the speed of the pump is somewhat reduced in order that the coarser particles of rich ore which are not sufficiently crushed may drop against the force of the upward current of liquidinto the receiver t'. After the mass has been treated for a suflicient length of time to extract the gold the valve h is opened and the pulp is drawn off, the motion of the pump being maintained until the vat is emptied. The pulp when drawn off may be treated in any of the usual ways for recovering the gold from the solution and the vat can be refilled with cyanid-of-potassium solution and the operation again repeated.

It will be obvious that the amalgamationplates 1) only require to be removed when they carry a sufficient quantity of gold.

As hereinbefore stated, I find it advantageous to make the treatment of the cyanid solution for the recovery of the gold therefrom as a continuation of the process of extraction from the ore, and in this case I advantageously use the arrangement of apparatus shown in Fig. 3. In this figure, In; is the electrolytic vessel, the bottom of which is connected with the pump 0 by the pipe Z, while a pipe on connects the two vats a and at the top. The part of the pipe in within the electrolytic tank la is adapted to be readily removed, its ends being supported in suitable sockets, as shown at n n, and it carries aseries of perforated arms 0 0, attached to a plug 19 or otherwise arranged so that they can rotate to distribute the liquid entering the electrolytic vat 70 from the amalgamatingvat CL over the whole surface of the said vat k. The rotation of the said arms may be ef fected through the medium of a pulley q, driven from any suitable motor, or it may rotate under the reaction of the jets of liquid issuing from perforations in the same manner as the well-known reaction-wheel.

r r are the anode-plates, which are sus pended from a suitable frame 5, the several arms of which are supported at their ends on brackets t 011 the walls of the vat 70.

u to are the cathode-plates, which are arranged in groups in frames t, supported upon the arms of the frame 8 in such a manner that the several groups of cathode-plates can be readily removed from between the anodeplates.

In Figs. 3 and i the anode and cathode plates are represented as being arranged radially. They may, however, if desired, be arranged circumferentially. This arrangement will readily be understood byreference to Fig. 5. In this figure the anode plates r r are suspended between the arms of the frame 8, while the cathode-plates are arranged in groups between the said anode-plates' As when using the apparatus shown in Fig.

3 the cyanid solution will not for some time be sufficientlystrong to warrant the expenditure of the electric current, I provide valves to m y, by suitably opening and closing which the solution may first of all be caused to circulate in the vat at until such time as it is of sutficient strength to treat electrolytically, when it may be caused to circulate through the electrolytic vat in the manner hereinbefore described.

It will be obvious thatthe walls of the electrolytic vat must be enameled or otherwise coated or constructed in orderto prevent any electrochemical action upon the walls of the said vat.

Although I have described my invention as applied to the treatment of gold ore, it is to be understood that it is equally applicable for the treatment of silver ores.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is- 1. In apparatus for the treatment of gold and silver ores the combination of a vat providedwith amalgamating-plates and adapted to contain cyanid'of potassium, in solution and the ore to be treated, a vat containing the electrodes of an electrolytic apparatus and means for causing the circulation of the cyanid-of -potassium solution through the amalgamating-vat and for distributing it in the electrolytic vat, substantially as, and for the purposes, described. V

2. The combination with a vat having its bottom of conical form, means for injecting liquid into said vat through its bottom and a distributing device in the path of the incoming liquid adapted to distribute the liquid laterally and spirally, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a vat having its bottom of conical form, means for injecting liquid into said vat through its bottom, and

a stationary distributing device provided with.

inclined blades, located in the path of the incoming liquid, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a vat having its bottom of conical form, a liquid-forcing device connected with the upper central portion of said vat, and having an injection-passage discharging upwardly into the apex of said conical bottom, and a distributing device provided with a series of inclined-blades disposed around a center located in the path of the incoming liquid, substantially as described.

5. The combination with the vat having a cone-shaped bottom portion, a liquid-forcing device communicating with the upper part of said vat and having an induction-pipe discharging upwardly through the apex of the said cone-shaped bottom, a closed receiver below said vat, and a normally open pipe in line with said apex directly connecting said tially as described.

BEDA BECKER.

Witnesses:

G. F. REDFERN, JOHN E. BoUsFIELD.

trolytic vat, by said forcing device, substan- 

